The Missing Mayor
by Kessie-Louise
Summary: When Mayor Roland goes missing, Francine, Buddy, Renee, and Chaz offer to go find him. But will they find him? Can they be able to find out who kidnapped him?
1. Chapter 1

"Congratulations Francine!" the mayor Roland said, "Here's the key to the city!"

"Thank you! Thank you!" Francine called out to the crowd of her admiring fans. "I couldn't have done it without all of you!"

Then, a figure came out from the crowd and said,

"Wake up! Do you have any idea what time it is? WAKE UP!"

Francine sat straight up in her bed, waking up in the process. Next to her was her aunt Elmira Clamp shaking the Sim girl awake.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Elmira shouted.

"7 o'clock in the morning." Francine guessed, groggy and bedheaded.

"Exactly! You were supposed to be at the library half an hour ago! The Dewey Decimal System isn't going to organize books by itself!"

"Yes ma'am." Francine said with an eye roll, getting out of bed.

Francine, knowing how her aunt would get if she operated slowly, quickly got dressed and brushed her teeth. She showed herself to Elmira before leaving the house.

"Finally you're dressed." her aunt huffed. "And you look decent enough to actually LOOK like you work at a library."

Francine said nothing, and tried to keep the most unpleasant thoughts of her aunt out of her head. 

* * *

"Hey Francine! PAAAAAaaaAAALLLLLL!" Francine's friend Buddy called.

"Hush Buddy!" Francine said, silencing him to the best she could, "You are yelling in a library operated by Elmira Clamp."

"Sorry pal," Buddy said, "But I'm really excited about what the mayor is doing today! Are you done enough so we can go see?"  
"I have to ask my aunt first. And that hardly ever soothes out well."

"NO! You can not go! You are behind on three minutes of work!" Elmira shouted after Francine asked.

"But Aunt Elmira...!"

"I said 'No!' Francine! Do you see your cousin Ian over there? See how he does his duty in this glorious library without complaint? Do you see how he does his work without breaks?"

"You brainwashed him early." Francine mumbled. Buddy, hearing this, laughed.

"Don't think I didn't hear that missy!" Elmira said, pointing a finger at Francine. Elmira turned to Buddy and shook a finger at him saying, "And don't you think that I don't know how to report you to the mayor if you take on step out of line!"

Francine stepped in front of Buddy.

"Leave Buddy out of this Aunt Elmira. We are discussing my failure as a family member of yours, not Buddy's." she said, defending her friend.

"Yeah!" Buddy said, "It's not her fault that you work her long hours of the day and think she didn't do anything! I bet she even does more then you do!"

Upon hearing this, Francine stepped on Buddy's foot as a warning not to say anything else. He groaned in pain, but said nothing else. Elmira looked at the both of them.

"Oh really?" Elmira asked.

"Totally!" Buddy said. This gave him another step on the foot, this time much, much harder. As a result, he yelped in pain.

"I think it's time you shut up now Buddy." Francine said with clenched teeth.

"Aunt Elmira, let Francine off for the rest of the day. She HAS worked hard (not as hard as you do of course), and I don't mind doing the rest of her work." Ian said, stepping into the conversation.

"Please stay out of this Ian Arneson." Francine warned, turning her gaze to Elmira for a second.

Ian shrugged and said, "You're my cousin. I have to defend you sometime."

Everyone looked at Elmira for several second until she made her decision.

"Fine, you can go. But you better get up EARLIER tomorrow morning though."

Francine was instantly amazed at her luck.


	2. Chapter 2

"There you guys are! We've been waiting since forever!" Renee said as Buddy and Francine came over. Their other friend, Chaz McFreely was with Renee too.

"Sorry guys, my 'beloved' aunt was being strict again." Francine said.

"It's about time you show that chump who's boss!" Chaz told her.

"She IS the boss. And we have legal documents to prove it." Francine said sadly.

"You need to show her what you really think about all that work and do something EXTREME! Like bungee off a bookshelf... or streak across the..."

"Chaz, this isn't going to help. It would just make the situation worse!" Renee said.

"Well I like to see you do something better about it!" he retorted. "Everything that goes on around here is centered around Francine. Francine this, Francine that. Francine could rebuilt a town! Francine could control a fancy magical scepter! Francine could be a secret agent! Francine could be the next Red Baron! How about a day that everything is centered around the Chaz Man?"

"That would be the day when you're actually nice to everyone!" Renee argued.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah!"

"Want to make something of it?"

"Maybe I do!"

"Knock it off you two!" Francine said, breaking up the fight with the help of Buddy, "Look, there's Rosalyn Marshal, the mayor's secretary. I wonder what she is doing up here. Mayor Roland was supposed to deliver a speech today."

"Ladies and gentleSims, as we all know today the mayor had something special planned for today."

The crowd cheered at this. It took a while for Rosalyn to quiet them down.

"But there's just one problem..." (Cue the dramatic zoom-in.) "The mayor is missing!"

The crowd went into an uproar of horror. With the mayor missing, who would be next? And what would happen to the town with him gone? What would happen to all the grilled cheese?

"Calm down everyone! Calm down!" Rosalyn shouted. Nearly everyone obeyed her.

"You know, she could run her own town if she could." Buddy observed.

"Everyone keep your heads on please!" Rosalyn continued to quiet everyone down. "We just need a simple search to find out where..."

"I'll help search!" Francine shouted, above the crowd. Everyone looked at her.

"Francine?" Rosalyn asked, a little surprised. "Are you sure?"

"Here we go again." Chaz whispered.

"Leave Francine alone!" Renee whispered to him.

"Make me." he challenged.

"Yes, Rosalyn. I'm sure." Francine quickly said.

"Then come inside quickly." Rosalyn told her. "And bring your friends with you too. We need all the help we can get with this matter."

* * *

"And this was the last place I saw him." Rosalyn said showing the little group the mayor's main office.

"DAAADDDDYYYYY." someone called from behind them. Everyone turned around to see Mayor Roland's very spoiled daughter, Butter, behind them. She looked at them with anger.

"What are you guys doing in Daddy's office?"

"Butter, we have to tell you something." Rosalyn told Butter calmly.

"YOUR FATHER HAS BEEN MAYOR-NAPPED!" Renee shouted out of no where.

"And Francine here is going to help find him." Buddy added.

Butter walked up to Francine and looked at her. Butter then laughed, quite rudely.

"You? You are going to find my father? Ha! You couldn't even herd two pigs to a house that's only five paces away!"

Francine opened her mouth to defend herself, but was stopped by Buddy.

"Don't say that!" Buddy said, defending his long time friend. "Francine could be in charge of sending spies out on dispatch missions and be a hero! And I could be the one who documents them..."

"What Buddy is trying to say (I hope), is that Francine could surprise you with what she can do. She could build this whole town from scratch if she wanted to." Chaz added, also defending his friend.

Butter laughed again. This time, a little afraid. If Chaz was willing to gang up on something, you had better start running now.

"Besides, harassing her is MY job." Chaz finished. Renee and Buddy gave Chaz a stern look, but looks couldn't keep Chaz in line for anything.

"Whether you find Daddy or not," Butter said, "Tell him that that so called unicorn he got from those so called elves turned out to just be a horse with an ice cream cone stuck on its head!" and she left the room with further to say.

"Butter never had her facts straight. Who says I can't do this?" Francine said, more to herself than anyone else.

"If it was anyone else I'd tell them to forget it," Rosalyn admitted, "But you seem very optimistic and outgoing to get the job done."

"You can do it pal!" Buddy said, giving his friend a hug.

"Let's show that spoiled brat called Butter who's boss!" Renee said excitedly.

Everyone turned to look at Chaz.

"What?" he asked. Then, after looking at Francine and noticing the 'you-better-say-something' looks from Buddy, Renee, and Rosalyn, he admitted,

"Francine, you have been nice to me when no one else would even want to be around me. It is for that reason, and that sole reason alone, is why I think you will find Mayor Roland. But only to show that chump Butter that she's just a spoiled pain in the..."

"Okay, we get the point Chaz McFreely." Rosalyn interrupted.

"I was getting to the best part!" he complained. Francine smiled. Chaz meant well, his ego just gets in the way when he wants to be nice. Francine liked to think that behind the ego was just a normal Sim.

"Let's go find Mayor Roland!" Francine shouted. Everyone in the office cheered.


	3. Chapter 3

"There has to be a clue somewhere." Francine said. She had instructed Buddy, Renee, Chaz, and Rosalyn to search the room that looked misplaced. So far, according to Rosalyn, everything was in the same place it was in before, so that was pretty much a waste of time.. "It just wouldn't make any sense if Mayor Roland just up and left without saying anything."

Francine turned to Rosalyn.

"Are you SURE that Mayor Roland didn't leave for a snack break or something?" she asked Rosalyn.

"Positive." Rosalyn nodded. "The mayor always calls me when he is going to leave the office. When he didn't call me at 11:45 for lunch like he always does, I knew something must have been wrong. So I came into his office and found that he wasn't in his room."

"And the mayor did come in today, right?" Renee asked.

"We have the security camera footage to prove it." Rosalyn told her. "And Butter, tramping around the place like it's a castle or something."

"The security camera!" Francine, Buddy, and Renee said at the same time. Chaz had stopped searching the moment the idea was proposed, but wasn't really interested in the lead.

* * *

"Do you see anything pal?" Buddy asked as Francine looked at the security cameras with full attention.

"Nothing." Francine said. "All I've seen so far is Butter tramping in and out, and it's getting annoying."

Francine thought that if she looked any longer at the screen, her eyes might singe from their sockets. She couldn't go another minute without rubbing her eyes.

"Wait a minute!" Rosalyn suddenly said, surprising everyone. "Rewind and freeze two hours back."

Francine did as she was told. Rosalyn then pointed to a figure that was coming into the mayor's office.

"That's Morcubus. He's been trying at Mayor Roland's position since the elections. He was the leader of a company called MorcuCorp. But when the mayor found out that Morcubus was polluting the city with the waste coming from the factories, he shut them down. MorcuCorp has been out of business since then."

"Where is Morcubus now?" Francine asked.

"We don't know. According to the yearly census he's not in town anymore."

"Does any one know or has known Morcubus?"

"Of course! One of his employees are still in town. We have him on file."

Rosalyn went over to a file holder and pulled out a dossier with five pages in it. Rosalyn handed the dossier to Francine and she looked over it.

"Herman LeTourneau, 687 Gothier Road." she read. Francine looked up at her friends. "Any one want to come with me?"

Buddy and Renee said that they would come along. Chaz wanted to know if anything was in it for him. Rosalyn agreed that the kids would be rewarding for their efforts and told them all to be safe. She also reminded them that if they needed any help to come back to the office to talk to her.


	4. Chapter 4

Francine knocked on Goth Boy's door. They waited, then she knocked again.

"Do you think anyone is home?" Buddy asked.

"I don't know." Francine admitted.

"Who ever it was left their door open." Chaz said after he pushed on the door.

"Chaz McFreely, don't you dare!" Francine warned.

"I won't Mom." Chaz said sarcastically. Francine gave Chaz a stern look, and peeked inside the house behind Chaz.

"Hello... is anyone here?" Francine asked once everyone was inside the house. As if answering them, the door closed by itself. Buddy hid behind Francine.

"I think this place is haunted pal." he said to her. Francine looked around from where she was standing.

"No it's not." she assured him. As if in a protest, the whining of a pipe organ started to echo through the house. The sound surprised Francine so badly, she jumped closer Buddy in fright.

"Then again..." she said nervously.

"Who dares to enter the home of Gothimer Boish?" a voice said out of no where.

Everyone looked at Francine to answer. And that she did,

"My name is Francine Capp, I came to see Herman LeTourneau in regards if he knows the whereabouts of Morcubus."

"What if the Sim you are looking for can not help you?"

"Then I guess our town will have to go mayor-less. We have reasons to believe that Morcubus mayor-napped our mayor."

The voice was silent for a few moments. Then the sound of someone creaking on the floorboards came closer and closer to the group. Soon, a shadowed figure came close to the group, and Buddy nervously got closer to Francine.

"Hello." the shadowed figure said. The figure stepped out of the shadows, and was revealed to be a Sim. "I'm Herman..." The Sim took a few moments to reconsider his words before correcting himself to say, "Goth Boy."

"Hello Goth Boy, my name is Francine. And these are my friends, Renee, Chaz, and Buddy.h Francine said, introducing the lot to the new Sim, ignoring the sudden name change.

"You need to stay away from Morcubus." Goth Boy warned right away. "That Sim is up to no good, and Roland was right to ban him from town. MorcuCorp is a bad thing to mess with as well. They're doing things there that have cops and detectives working off the clock."

"That's not going to stop me." Francine told him indifferently. Goth Boy looked at her like she was insane (and he actually thought she was), but noticed the determination in her face.

"Fine. But if you all die when you get zapped by the security rays, don't come and haunt me."

"Deal."

In several hours, Goth Boy told the group all that he knew about MorcuCorp. How to get in, who still worked there, the locations of the security cameras, the whole nine yards.

"Tonight there is going to be a formal dinner held by Morcubus at the main factory. It so happens that I got an invitation, and I can invite whoever as well."

"Does that mean we get to go dancing?" Renee asked happily.

"It means that we get to snoop around and find Mayor Roland." Francine said.

"You catch on pretty quickly." Goth Boy told Francine.

"I do my best." she said with a smile.


	5. Chapter 5

"Everyone ready?" Goth Boy asked as the stood outside the gates of MorcuCorp. The boys were all in black suits, while the girls wore dresses that matched their favorite colors.

"Why am I wearing this tie?" Chaz asked, sounding irradiated.

"You should be lucky that it's just a bow tie." Francine told him. "Stop messing with it, or you'll ruin it."

Francine then rolled her eyes, and went over to Chaz to fix his almost straight tie. Chaz stood impatiently as she fixed it. Just when he thought she was done, she decided to adjust it a little more.

"How long is this going to take?" Goth Boy asked.

"I'm done now." Francine said, stepping away for Chaz to view her handy-work. "Maybe." she added before she moved the tie a little to the right. "Perfect."

Inside the factory, loud music was heard nearly everywhere, most of it bouncing back in echoes. Morcubus was quite happy at how the party had been moving along. All of his employees had attended, mixed in with a few of the elite, and a few of his own personal likings.

One Sim that used to work for him, but Morcubus still liked, had brought along four interesting Sims with him. One was bragging about things he could do, another was talking to some cheese, and the other two were next to each other talking to Herman, almost like the boy was the bodyguard of the girl. Or, the two were dating and the boy was preventing the girl from seeing other guys.

"Esma." Morcubus said to the Sim next to him. "Cover for me."

"Yes sir." Esma agreed, saluting her boss.

Morcubus made his way over to the 'couple' and Blaine (a Sim who Morcubus had invited that was talking to the two Sims) at a smooth pace, saying hello to a few Sims on the way. As Morcubus got closer to the three Sims, he could hear what they were saying.

"You look wonderful this evening young madam. Are you wearing perfume by chance?" Blaine asked.

"No, I'm not actually." the girl said. "My aunt isn't too heavy in it, and some Sims overuse it. I think I might be allergic, because I keep sneezing anytime some Sim has it on."

"Perfume does indeed ruin the taste." Blaine said. He carefully took the girl's hand, and kissed it. She went into a set of giggles. She used her opposite hand to fan herself off.

"It just got really hot in here." she said, extremely flustered.

"Maybe I should turn on the air conditioning then. But I didn't think anyone was dancing enough to need it." Morcubus said, thinking it was an interesting time for his grand introduction. The three turned to look at him.

"Morcubus, wonderful party." Blaine said coolly. "I see you finally invite some beautiful girls to your parties."

The girl giggled again, heavily blushing. The boy next to her slowly rolled one of his hands into a fist, but quickly released it when he realized what he was doing. It was something that Morcubus took quite an interest in seeing.

"I didn't invite her. Herman did I believe." Morcubus said.

"That would explain everything." Blaine said back. He turned back to the girl, and said,

"Save a dance for me before the night is over my dear." and he kissed her hand again. The girl blushed a heavier bright red color as she watched Blaine leave.

"Blaine certainly is the womanizer isn't he?" Morcubus asked the girl.

"He's up there." the girl smiled. Morcubus took notice as the boy clenched his jaw, and unclenched it.

"Morcubus." Morcubus said, extending his arm for a handshake.

"Francine." the girl said, excepting the handshake. "And my friend here is Buddy." she added, motioning at the boy that had been next to her.

"Nice to know both of you. Are you enjoying yourself this evening?"

"Yes sir, you throw a wonderful party." Francine told him. "DJ Candy couldn't have thrown a better party."

"You're just saying that..." Morcubus gushed, pretending to be embarrassed. "But we all know it's true!"

Both him and Francine laughed. Suddenly, Goth Boy ran up to them.

"Francine, I need you and Buddy for a few minutes." he said.

"Nice to meet you Morcubus. Hope to see you around." Francine quickly said, and started to follow Goth Boy.

"So soon?" Morcubus asked them.

"Yes, I'm sorry. I'll see you around soon!" Francine called out. Morcubus watched them leave, and noticed they were heading toward a door that was marked 'No Party Guests' on it. Something was up, and he was going to find out what.


	6. Chapter 6

"There's an entrance around here somewhere..." Goth Boy told the group as they looked around a small room. Suddenly, there was a loud crash, and everyone turned to look at Buddy, who had tripped.

"Way to go klutz." Chaz said.

"Buddy's not a klutz, Chaz." Francine scolded, "He found the entrance!"

"I did?" Buddy asked, slightly disorientated after he tripped. Francine picked up her skirt, and showed Buddy the pathway he was opened up for them.

"Hey, I did!"

The group walked into the passage way almost on their tip-toes. The girls had to pick up their dresses up a little at the bottom so they didn't trip and fall on them. After a couple of minutes, the passageway's dirt path became metal, and the group was introduced to a huge room with hallways throughout.

"We're here." Goth Boy announced.

"Now which path do we take?" Buddy asked. Everyone pointed in a different direction.

"MAYOR ROLAND!" Renee shouted on the top of her lungs, "WHERE ARE YOU?"

In a flash, everyone had a hand over her mouth.

"Be quiet!" Goth Boy ordered in mid-whisper. "Or someone will hear you."

"Yes, someone will." Morcubus said, coming out of the passageway himself. He had behind him four of his workers with him. There was no way out.

"For the love of Will Wright, just give us up the mayor back and we'll leave you alone!" Chaz said, confrontations not his favorite things in the world.

"There are many reasons why I'm not doing that." Morcubus said, snapping his fingers for his workers to hold Francine, Renee, Chaz, and Goth Boy. "One of them being revenge."

"For what?" Francine asked, struggling against her holder, Dragomir.

"I'm not going to tell!" Morcubus said.

"Let go of Francine, Morcubus!" Buddy demanded.

"What about the rest of us?" Chaz asked, sounding annoyed. But he went ignored.

"Don't worry about them." Morcubus told Buddy. "You're going to come with me for a little experiment."

"What are you going to do with him?" Francine asked. Buddy walked up to her.

"I'll be fine." he said reassuringly. Francine wasn't too sure.

"Not that this isn't a happy moment or anything," Chaz said, interrupting, "But shouldn't we be worrying about other things too?"

"You're right." Morcubus said, "Esma, Dragomir, and Svetlana, take our guests to their chambers for the rest of the night. And Brandi, take Herman to my office. I'll have a discussion with him after I'm done with my new friend here."

"I'm not leaving my pals behind Morcubus!" Buddy told him.

"Really? That's a shame."

Next thing anyone knew, there was a shattering of pottery after it hit Buddy's head. Renee screamed in surprise, Chaz jumped back a little, and Francine shouted in surprise,

"Buddy!"

"Sorry I was late boss." the Sim that had hit Buddy's head with the pottery said, "My eyes couldn't adjust to the dark."

"Derek!" Francine gasped in surprise. "YOU work for Morcubus too?"

The Sim looked at her, and made a look of disgust and surprise.

"You know her?" Morcubus asked.

"We used to be friends." Francine explained, "And then he..."

"You started to hate me for no reason!" Derek interrupted.

"No," Francine corrected, "You became a bully. I even tried to help you, but all that happened was that you got worse!"

Derek humphed.

"That's not how I remember it. You started to constantly hang out with Buddy after his summer camp fiasco, and met Renee after school started. And when you said we couldn't be friends any more, you went and got Chaz, who was WORSE than I was!"

"But he's less big-headed than what he was then." Francine reminded him.

"Is your trip down memory lane done yet?" Morcubus impatiently asked Derek. "We have work to do before this idiot wakes up." he added as he kicked Buddy.

"Don't kick him!" Francine ordered. "Buddy's as fragile as they come!"

"Take them away." Morcubus ordered. And his workers did as they were told. 

* * *

Buddy woke up in a comfortable chair. But then he realized that his wrists were held down.

"No use struggling my friend, that is official F-grade metal. You're not going any where." Morcubus said, coming out of the shadows.

"I wasn't struggling... yet." Buddy lied, although he kind of was but wasn't really.

"You weren't?" Morcubus asked, almost sure that he thought Buddy would have been struggling. "Never mind, you will be soon."

Morcubus then pushed a button on the wall, and a hypno-disk fell into his arms.

"Isn't it beautiful? Made by Madame Zoey herself with the scientific aid of Dr. F. Guaranteed to hypnotize any Sim that I wish. Hope you didn't enjoy your friends too much, after I'm done with you, you'll never see them again."

"Leave them alone!"

"I won't be doing anything to them, it will be you that hurts them."

Buddy looked confused, so Morcubus explained more.

"You see my young friend, you have anger inside of you that no one lets you unleash. And with your personality, these feelings don't last long to begin with. But, with a little hypno-therapy, I can help you unlock these feelings and you will be my right hand man."

"I'm not going to help if it costs me my friends."

Morcubus' face was stone cold. It scared Buddy to great lengths.

"We have them up in their cells Morcubus." Dragomir announced as he and Morcubus's other hench-people came into the room. "They tried to run away, but we stopped them. One of those girls threw one of her shoes at me, but I took the other one she had off. So she didn't get any ideas."

"Perfect timing. Hold this for me." and Morcubus threw the hypno-disk at Dragomir, and he caught it. Barely.

"You see Buddy," Morcubus said, walking around Buddy's chair slowly. "I know that you're jealous of who that girl of yours likes. I seen it before, no, I've LIVED it before. This little trick is going to make you feel better. Just a few bad memories bent out, and you'll be fine."

"But you said earlier that you were going to unleash my inner anger, if I get revenge on those who I didn't like, then they wouldn't be fine. And if I have a memory of Francine when she made me extremely upset..." Buddy was thinking more than what he had in years. It must have been the situation he was in.

"I don't want to hurt Francine, or Chaz, or Renee. I'm not going to help you." Buddy decided.

"Then that is such a shame." Morcubus said with a devious smile.

"Hey loverboy." Dragomir said to Buddy, holding up the hypo-disk in his face. "It's nap time."


	7. Chapter 7

"We need to get out of here." Chaz said. He, Francine, and Renee had been tied up in a jail cell.

"We can't." Francine told him. "These handcuffs are made of official F-grade metal, the door has several locks on it, and I'm pretty sure this room is soundproof. It's almost something that Aunt Elmira would approve of. And that's saying something."

"So... there's no way of us getting out of here?"

"Not a chance."

"Great..." Chaz mumbled.

"We need Mr. Humble." Renee said. Chaz and Francine looked at her.

"You know the only thing that dude could bring up is a computer." Chaz retorted. "Which would be wonderful, but we need to get out of this uncomfortable position first."

"He could bring us a key so we can get out of here." Renee told him. Chaz sighed. Some days he felt that Renee was just a lost cause.

"Anyone feeling perky enough to see if Renee could be right?" Francine asked. "Quite personally, I feel a little depressed myself at the moment."

No one would say anything different. No Mr. Humble today.

Francine snapped her fingers in realization.

"My shoe."

Chaz looked at her.

"Have you lost it too?" he asked.

"No, my glass shoe that I wore earlier. It's in the bag. Broken, I hope, but in the bag."

"You only have one? Don't you have two feet?" Chaz asked, smirking a little.

"I HAD two shoes at some point, but I threw one when we were running away from Esma and company earlier. Don't you remember that? You were right there. I don't remember if anyone picked it up or not, but the dude I threw my shoe at forcefully took of my other one."

"Are you Cinderella or something?" Chaz remarked. But Francine didn't listen to him, she was too busy trying to use her foot to bring the brown bag closer to her. She used her toes to carefully pull out a glass shard. Then she carefully picked the lock, and was free. She picked the lock on her friends' handcuffs, and nearly reached for the door when she heard someone call out,

"Hullo, can you get me out too?"

The group looked at a man that was held like they had been a few minutes before.

"Mayor Roland!" they all exclaimed. In no time, Francine got Roland out of his entrapment too.

"Thank you." the mayor politely said. "I've been there for nearly a week now. Wouldn't have been so bad, but they were nearly force feeding me."

"You poor baby." Renee said, being sympathetic.

"And that Brandi, with an eye patch on her eye, that made me extremely nervous of her intentions." Roland continued to say.

"Let it all out." Renee said, acting like she was a mother, or a shrink.

While Mayor Roland told Renee about his experience, Chaz and Francine worked together to pick the lock on the door. When they got the door opened, it revealed a familiar face with an unfamiliar expression.

"Buddy!" Francine and Chaz both said at the same time. But Buddy wasn't happy about seeing them.

"You four should not be out of your cells. But that doesn't matter, I'm sure Morcubus will want to see you now."

Chaz and Francine nervously looked at each other. This wasn't going to be a pretty scene.


	8. Chapter 8

"Welcome to my office." Morcubus said to the company after Buddy had escorted them there.

"What did you do with Buddy?" Francine demanded.

"Quick on the update, are we?" Morcubus proudly said. "Well if you really must now, I did a little therapy on him if you will. Changed him for the better, see?"

"Better for you!" Chaz shouted.

Buddy walked over to Chaz, and gave him a punch in the jaw. Renee, Chaz, and Francine were speechless.

"What was that for dude?" Chaz asked, feeling his jaw which was slowly bleeding a bit.

"Four years ago, you joined our group." Buddy said, his voice more macabre than what it was, "You kept calling me rude names that hurt my feelings. It was like being punched in the jaw. How do you like it?"

Chaz backed away from Buddy, for the first time ever Chaz was afraid of him. Morcubus was enjoying the spectacle.

Buddy turned to Renee.

"And you, you made that awful pig of yours jump on me when we went to your petting zoo two summers ago. You said it was an accident, but that pig's jump was extremely rehearsed for something to be just an accident."

Buddy started to charged toward Renee, but Francine stood in the way.

"Don't hurt her Buddy! I know you don't want to either!"

"And you..."

Buddy shoved Renee out of the way, and threw Francine into the wall. She fell to the ground in a sitting position, her vision lost her for a few seconds. His took his hands to hold her wrists against the wall.

"What is it with you?" he asked, more than just macabre now, "You never give up, you're always there to stir the pot, and worst of all you're in nearly every memory I have. Not even Lyndsay is seen that many times!"

"Buddy, get off of me." Francine struggled. "You're hurting me."

Buddy was one of those Sims that was stronger than what they looked. Now was one of those times when Francine was rudely reminded of that.

"Why should I?" Buddy threatened. "Tell me why you are in my memories! Tell me why I have no reason to hurt you because of these memories!"

"Because you're still Buddy." Francine told him. "MY Buddy, not the Buddy that acts like Morcubus' mindless drone. You're still the Buddy that trips over thin air, salutes random objects, scared of his own shadow, heck, even acts as my comic relief. And I can tell that Buddy is still in there, I can see it in your eyes."

"Liar." Buddy hissed, holding Francine down harder.

"I'm not. Buddy... please fight whatever happened to you. You're stronger than that. Please."

Then, Francine saw something in Buddy's eyes flicker.

"No you idiot! You work for me, and I demand you destroy her!" Morcubus yelled. Buddy shook his head quickly.

"Please Buddy... fight it."

Morcubus realized he was losing his control over Buddy, and quickly threw the ray gun that he used for protection at Buddy.

"Destroy her and show me that you're still under my control!"

Buddy's hand shakily took to ray gun and pointed it at Francine. Even Francine could tell that her Buddy was trying to break through Morcubus' Buddy.

"You don't want to do this Buddy, and you know it!" she told him.

"Silence..." Buddy said, his voice almost returning to what it was. The ray gun was pointed as Francine, and she had no way out.

"Francine!" Renee and Chaz both shouted.

At the same moment as Buddy pulled the trigger on the ray gun, Francine quickly gave him a kiss. Something she knew that was so drastic that it HAD to pull Buddy out of Morcubus's control. She held he kiss as long as she could, until her body grew too heavy to hold her up, and she fell over on the ground. Renee let out a loud gasp when it was evident that Francine was shot by the ray gun. There was a nasty burn on the bodice of her dress.

Buddy blinked several times. He looked at Francine lying on there.

"Francine...?" he said, not quite sure if he was seeing what he was.

"She's gone now." Morcubus said. "Your deed is done. Congratulations."

"That's not true Morcubus! You tricked him!" Renee protested, as she and Chaz helped Buddy up and off of Francine.

"What happened?" Buddy asked, "Why does my head hurt so much...?"

"You just got rid of a nuisance for me." Morcubus said satisfied.

"Not quite Morcubus." someone said at the doorway. It was Mayor Roland to the rescue.

"For endangering these children, and possibly costing the life of one, you're going to be going to jail for life."

"No fair! I want a lawyer!" Morcubus declared.

"All's fair in love and war!" Renee said.


	9. Chapter 9

Francine stirred in and out between sleeping and being awake. She groaned at her stiff joints and the uncomfortable bed she was in. After she could hear her own groan, she heard other voices as well.

"Look! She's waking up!"

"Thank Will Wright, it's about time!"

Francine slowly opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw were bright lights. Then she turned her head to the right and saw Buddy, and she smiled.

"Am I dead yet?" she asked. Buddy smiled too.

"You look pretty alive to me pal." he said. He looked like he hadn't been sleeping. No one in the room looked like they had been sleeping when Francine had taken a good look at them. Francine looked over to the other side of her bed and saw Ian.

"Hey Ian," Francine said, kind of weakly, "Where's Aunt Elmira?"

"You know her," Ian said in a tone that made you think he couldn't believe his cousin was alive, "She's yelling at the doctor for his outrageous medical techniques. Or something. I don't know any more."

Francine tried to laugh, but it hurt so she didn't.

"The doctor kept saying how you wouldn't make it," Ian went on the explain, "But then he'd say that you would. And then there were moments when he wasn't even sure at all."

"Which is why Aunt Elmira is killing him now?"

"You got it."

Francine smiled and looked around the hospital room. Renee and Chaz were also there (they were standing at the end of her bed), but there were several voices outside.

"Who else is here?" she asked Buddy.

"Mayor Roland, Rosalyn, Butter..." Buddy listed.

"Wait... Butter...?" Francine asked, not believing it. "Is here... for me...? Am I going to die? Is the world going to end or something?"

Everyone in the room laughed.

"We thought the same thing." Ian told her. If it didn't hurt to laugh, then that would have been a moment to do it.

The five talked about things that had gone on while Francine was comatose (apparently she had been out for nearly a week), and brought her in some flowers from Sims she knew. Word from Mayor Roland was that Morcubus had been locked in jail for life because he endangered her life. If she had died, Morcubus would have gotten the death sentence in return. Francine was glad for the flowers and the mayor's decision making. When the nurse came in and announced visiting hours were over, Francine requested that Buddy stay for just a little longer. The nurse really didn't care, as long as Buddy left before the hospital closed.

Buddy and Francine waited until they were sure they were alone until they started to talk to each other.

"Whatever happened pal, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it, I promise!'" Buddy quickly said.

"I know you didn't mean to Buddy." Francine comforted. "I knew you weren't... you."

"I didn't hurt anyone... did I?"

"You possibly shook Chaz up a little, and gave him a sore jaw, but other than that no one's hurt."

Buddy looked horror stricken.

"Calm down. Or you'll be the one needing hospital care." Francine joked. Buddy sat on the hospital bed as close as he could to Francine without getting too close. Francine tried to sit up a little.

After looking at each other for a little, they both hugged at the same time. They didn't want to let go of each other, they both realized that they almost were never able to do it again if Francine had never woke up. Buddy was crying, although he didn't make a sound; Francine could feel her hospital gown's shoulder get wet. In a way, she was almost crying too. She clung onto Buddy's shirt like she was afraid of falling off of the bed.

"You know those soap operas Aunt Elmira used to make us watch?" Francine asked, still holding on the Buddy for dear life.

Buddy nodded.

"Wouldn't be funny if we were married, and when the doctor said I was going to die, you decided to get propose to someone else, and then I woke up. Then you and your fiance had a sticky mess to be in? But what ended up was that you and I got a divorce, and your fiance left you at the altar."

Buddy laughed.

"That would be an interesting episode." he said, his voice shaking a little. A definite sign that he was crying.

The two then looked at each other. Francine was a little pale, Buddy's eyes had almost red rings under them.

"How much schoolwork do I have to do when I get back?" Francine asked, in an almost joking tone.

"A lot." Buddy smiled. Francine smiled and laughed a little, the pain from before slightly subdued now.


	10. Chapter 10

Several months later, in the cool breeze, Francine and her friends enjoyed sitting at the steps of Town Hall watching different Sims go by. The doctor had discharged her under the condition that she relax most of the time. Not that she and her friends did anything outrageous to start with. Even Chaz agreed to tone down his 'rad moves' for a few weeks.

"Nice day today." Francine reflected. No one could disagree. They were the four-some group they had all become accustomed to once more. Francine felt a tap on her shoulder, and looked around to see Butter.

"Hi Francine..." Butter said shyly, as if she had never talked to Francine before.

"Hello Butter." Francine smiled. "Come sit down with us."

Normally, someone would have made up an excuse for Butter not to sit with them, but no one said anything and let her sit.

"Francine..." Butter started, not sure how to say what she was going to. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be so rude. Promise. I don't have a lot of friends... and I don't know why."

Chaz snickered, but was silenced when Francine gave him a stern look.

"I was wondering," Butter continued. "If I could be a part of your group too. If no one minds of course."

"No one minded when Chaz first joined." Francine told her. "And some Sims think I reformed him pretty well."

Butter grimaced. She was one of the Sims Chaz used to make fun of before being friends with Francine. Most memories of Chaz she had were not pleasant. However, it's only been over two years and Chaz had changed in some subtle degree.

"What do you guys think?" Francine asked Buddy, Renee, and Chaz. They looked at each other in a silent vote, then nodded their heads. She's in. Butter squealed.

"Thank you, you guys!" she said, giving everyone a hug. Chaz flinched when Butter hugged him, but she took no notice though. Francine laughed, then looked back out onto the street. Derek was jealously watching.

"Hey Derek!" Francine shouted, "Come over here for a minute!"

Derek pretended not to hear her for a few moments, but since she and her friends were watching him, he decided to come over.

"What do you think?" she asked, smiling warmly.

"About what?" Derek asked indifferently.

"You know what; joining our group."

Derek looked at her like she was insane, but she looked at him sincerely.

"Your choice dear." Francine told him.

Derek looked at the new five-some, and then directly at Francine.

"No." he said. Francine was surprised, truly and completely surprised.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"We have benefits!" Renee offered. "Gino's pizza every Friday at nine, bowling following after, and being screamed at by Elmira when Francine comes home too late!"

"And on Sundays we get sundaes!" Buddy also offered.

"And Wednesdays we go down the the boardwalk, and I get to show off my rad moves." Chaz also added.

"We usually talk him out of it though." Francine assured Derek.

"I'm sure." Derek said, confirming that he didn't want to be part of the group.

"The offer is always out there if you change your mind." Francine told him.

"I'll keep that in mind." Derek said, not a trace of sorry or worry in his voice. And then he left, leaving Francine to feel a little sorry for him.

"Don't worry about him," Buddy told her, "Sims like that are hard to be friends with any way."

"I guess... I just feel sorry for him." Francine admitted.

"How about we show Butter our normal hang outs?" Buddy proposed, "That'll cheer you up!"

Francine looked at Buddy with happy eyes.

"I think that would."

And the new five-some spent the rest of the day having fun, until Elmira came and dragged Francine by the ear back home.


End file.
